Journeys by hiking, running, cycling and touring
There's no such thing as bad weather, only the wrong clothes. Or so goes the proverb. Â But it's a load of sanctimonious bollocks... If there's one piece of so-called outdoor wisdom that really gets on my tits, it's this. Not because I totally disagree with it, but because of the way that people trot it … Continue reading A Far Eastern Odyssey – Part 4: Bad Weather ? Bad Gear ? Bad Decisions ?
Faint strains of cuckoo song broke through the assortment of snoring and farting noises as the new day dawned. A typical hostel night with 6 blokes in an 8 bed room which makes for very poor sleep. And a tactical error timing my check-in meant I was in the top bunk. Hoping that inspiration had … Continue reading A Far Eastern Odyssey – Part 3: Whiffs of Vanilla and Echoes of Thriller
Sunday 1 July Today was a severe test of resolve and several issues were thrown my way. Not all of them were successfully resolved. I woke to the sound of rain pattering on the tent. I'd expected that but not for it to last 4 hours. So the tent was wringing wet by the time … Continue reading A Far Eastern Odyssey – Part 2: A Lost Mojo
Saturday 30 June I alighted from the train at Windermer to be met by the usual mix of Japanese tourists, walkers and locals milling around and getting in each others way. The locals and I made straight for the waiting 599 bus which was about to leave due to the train being late. We took … Continue reading A Far Eastern Odyssey – Part 1: A Failure Avenged
There's now only three sleeps left until I load up my camel, plant my feet firmly on the Silk Road and head to the Far East. Â Well, the "Far East" of the Lake District, that is. Â And I've started gathering some gear... As anyone who read my previous post will have gathered, I've been a … Continue reading A Far Eastern Odyssey – Loading my Camel
Monica has a lot to answer for. It's all because of her that I've spent so much money on gear this year... For anyone who doesn't know, Monica is my tent, a Scarp 1 from Tarptent. Ever since she came to stay, sometime in March, two trends have been happening. Â The first is that the … Continue reading Some new gear
I've spent what little spare time I've had in the evenings over the last week staring at the map and my Lake District wallchart, trying to crack the puzzle that is the Far Eastern Fells. Â And I think I might finally be getting somewhere... The octopus-like nature of the FE Fells makes for difficult planning … Continue reading My “Oriental” Plan takes shape
Every year on the weekend nearest to my birthday I go away for one or two nights with the tent. Whilst it's good to get out, the main driver is the fact that my daughter's birthday is 3 days after mine and she somehow manages to pull rank when it comes to any parties scheduled … Continue reading A Birthday Camp
All Change The rain is falling outside, but otherwise all is quiet as I have the house to myself. Soon the family will return from their afternoon out and in a few hours time the long Jubilee weekend will be over, and it will be time to head back to work. And it's likely to … Continue reading A Far Eastern Odyssey
I looked out through the tent doorway and watched the crepuscular reflections of the fell's upper ramparts on the tarn a few feet away. Barely a ripple disturbed the surface and I sat alone enjoying the evening burst of colour in a location where the predominant colours are usually green and grey. The sun sunk … Continue reading More Joy of Tarns
This year's planned chunk of the South West Coast Path was due to be the biggest section yet, but circumstances had another idea and we had to cut it short. Here's the story. Day 0: Friday 18 May It’s all been a bit weird. I finished most of the planning for this trip way back … Continue reading SWCP 2012
Ok, maybe the title is a bit dramatic. Â It wasn't anything like a complete failure, unless you only measure it against the original plan to walk as far as Falmouth over 7 days rather than to Par over 4. Indeed, the irony was that in some ways this trip was the best of the 5 … Continue reading SCWP 2012: Post Mortem
I flew along today. The walking was, for the SWCP, easy; a certain amount of fitness had kicked in; and I had a reason to get it done. Day 4: Tuesday 22 May I lingered over breakfast talking to Tim, the proprietor of The Well House, partly because I was the only guest, but also … Continue reading SWCP 2012: One under Par
Every year there's always one day more than the others when I become aware of the place names. Maybe the toilet humour from yesterday put me in the mood. That said it was also about the simple joy of putting one foot in front of the other on a day of perfect weather and perfect … Continue reading SWCP 2012: A day of silly names and perfect views
I'm not deliberately setting out to offend anyone with this post, but if I do then I guess that's a bonus. Every so often you find yourself doing a walk where a theme emerges and try as you might, it persists. Today was just such a day. Day 2: Sunday 20 May. Crafthole to Looe … Continue reading SWCP 2012: Toilet humour